Small Stuff Adds Up!

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Sometimes I wonder why I even try, I must hate myself some and this is part of my punishment

I was going to make the same observation Don, but didn’t know how to put it without offending. You seem a glutton for punishment when it comes to all this financial neurosis. I’m glad to see you’ve come to the same conclusion .

Here’s a thought … how about going a whole month without fretting about every dollar that gets spent. Just live, and enjoy. I’m not saying go nuts. I’m just saying you might find greater joy in this life if you’re not always brooding over money all the time.

[model 10]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Sometimes I wonder why I even try, I must hate myself some and this is part of my punishment

Maybe you should not take your experience so seriously?

[sailorboy1]

I'm not fretting at all!!!!!!!!! If anyone is fretting it's other people!

[Exile]

I didn't think you were. In fact, I was just thinking that, of all the people who may read this thread, start fretting, and then opt to spend a bunch of money trying to "improve" their systems (), Don might be the only one who's apparently going to wind up saving $500! Gotta love the irony.

[maxingout]

Boats are expensive just like houses.

I always operate on the principle that I will pay now or pay later for items on my boat. I almost always opt to pay now, because paying later may be a giant hassle or nearly impossible in some remote corner of the world.

I have found that I do a significant refit about every five years in a great nautical location with the full knowledge that it will be expensive, but if done right, it will give me five relatively trouble free years of sailing. I don't like things breaking down offshore or in remote locations.

We cruise on $500 to $1000 per months when we are offshore and in remote areas, but the real cost is much greater because we are amortizing the refit expenses while we cruise.

I have no idea how much it costs to keep, maintain, and run Exit Only. I think I might get depressed if I kept track of what it cost.

[daletournier]

The day to day living isnt that expensive for me, its my crazy need to make the boat better. It does my head in knowing something could be done more efficiently, there's no end when you have this mind set, sometimes good enough is really good enough.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by thomm225

If one wants to hang out at a dock on a boat for retirement along a narrow stretch of the ICW and call it cruising then worry about every dollar spent, that's great!

All those years of planning ..................I guess when some of us get old it's hard to unhook the dock lines

I haven't gotten the impressions SB is worrying about money, just trying to do a service for other members by reporting costs he's encountered along the way.

??

And as I understand it, he unhooked his dock lines somewhere up north, so I think he's apparently been -- dare I say it -- "cruising" -- for quite some time.

-Chris

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

I haven't gotten the impressions SB is worrying about money, just trying to do a service for other members by reporting costs he's encountered along the way.

??

Really??

$1.49 empty spray bottle (if you don't keep a few around you should)

$5.35 gear oil for the outboard

[Kenomac]

Thomm,

Sailorboy departed from Salem, Massachusetts last year and is now waiting out the hurricane season. He's doing the numbers to help other members understand the real costs of cruising his way, our numbers would be different.

Nuff said.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by maxingout

Boats are expensive just like houses.

I still believe you can enjoy owning a boat without spending a lot of money.

I have about $8,500 in my boat which includes a new outboard, new mainsail, 100 Watt Solar Panel, three Solar Controllers, two inverters, autopilot, Compass (one of my old GPS's failed), jackline, harness, and tether

Then I may have spent about $1,500-$2,000 over the past six years for maintenance to include two bottom jobs, one topside paint job, impellers, oils, stanchion (that I still haven't replaced but did epoxy over the mounting holes), one bilge pump, and two replacement batteries.

This money also includes bringing the boat back from being on the hard for 5 years unattended after the PO cruised it from Massachusetts to Florida and the Bahamas.

I have yet to replace the rigging or any of the thruhulls. I'm using all the old instruments that came on the boat and the old anchors (a CQR and a Bruce) and rode. I'm also still using the PO's docklines

At this point I'm sailing/"cruising" the boat within a 100 X 30 mile area on the Chesapeake Bay to see how it performs plus I'm still working

Coming back yesterday there was practically no wind so I motored with the 5hp outboard for about 20 miles at speeds around 5 knots ( I had the tide) and it was a beautiful clear sunny day. A very nice return trip on autopilot!

[weavis]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Sometimes I wonder why I even try, I must hate myself some and this is part of my punishment

I used to hate myself. Then I found others could do a far better job and for less reason..

On that basis, I left it to them.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by thomm225

I still believe you can enjoy owning a boat without spending a lot of money.

I have about $8,500 in my boat which includes a new outboard, new mainsail, 100 Watt Solar Panel, three Solar Controllers, two inverters, autopilot, Compass (one of my old GPS's failed), etc

Then I may have spent about $1,500-$2,000 over the past six years for maintenance to include two bottom jobs, one topside paint job, impellers, oils, stanchion (that I still haven't replaced but did epoxy over the mounting holes), one bilge pump, and two replacement batteries.

This money also includes bringing the boat back from being on the hard for 5 years unattended after the PO cruised it from Massachusetts to Florida and the Bahamas.

I have yet to replace the rigging or any of the thruhulls. I'm using all the old instruments that came on the boat and the old anchors (a CQR and a Bruce) and rode

At this point I'm sailing/"cruising" the boat within a 100 X 30 mile area on the Chesapeake Bay to see how it performs plus I'm still working

Coming back yesterday there was practically no wind so I motored with the 5hp outboard for about 20 miles at speeds around 5 knots ( I had the tide) and it was a beautiful clear sunny day. A very nice return trip on autopilot!

Congratulations, you win.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by weavis

I used to hate myself. Then I found others could do a far better job and for less reason..

On that basis, I left it to them.

you don't even need "others", all you need is an other

[boatman61]

SB.. What is needed is a $500/mth white trash sailor to do a similar monthly budget so we can compare.. No fancy shower, water heater and sump pumps but a solar shower bag and cockpit drain.. that kinda basic sailing **** that was the norm for sailors once upon a time.. and still is for some.
I can not as I gave my boat away this weekend.. but I'm sure there's still one or two members left on CF who practice this approach.
Not knocking folks choices.. each to their own in my book..

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by boatman61

SB.. What is needed is a $500/mth white trash sailor to do a similar monthly budget so we can compare.. No fancy shower, water heater and sump pumps but a solar shower bag and cockpit drain.. that kinda basic sailing **** that was the norm for sailors once upon a time.. and still is for some.
I can not as I gave my boat away this weekend.. but I'm sure there's still one or two members left on CF who practice this approach.
Not knocking folks choices.. each to their own in my book..

I've asked them to do it many times. The whole reason I post the numbers is because you can find lots of "I cruise on $X", but few that tell what is in $X or sometimes more important what isn't.